Palwal highway crash: Police look for tractor driver

Even though the police are busy conducting raids in different parts of Palwal district in connection with Tuesday's accident in which a Delhi family was killed, the accused driver of the tractor that caused the crash is still at large.

Five people, including a child, were charred when their car crashed into a stationary tractor and caught fire on NH-2 (Mathura Road) at Palwal on Tuesday.

"The driver, identified as Rinku, is absconding. We have raided his house and other hide-outs in Allawalpur in Palwal district," the police said.

According to the police, one Narinder Singh of Ballabgarh, who was driving behind the ill-fated car, tried to save the occupants, but could not do so as the central locking system got jammed. The tractor, possibly coming from Uttar Pradesh or Rajasthan, was laden with stones. "Once the driver is arrested, we will be in a better position to know the exact cause of the accident that claimed five lives of a family," added the police.

On the basis of preliminary enquiry, the police believe that the driver had deliberately and suddenly stopped the tractor before the ill-fated car, which led to the accident, in which three generations of a family perished."

“We think that the tractor driver got irritated by repeated honking and suddenly applied brakes, leading to the accident,” said Malkhan Singh, incharge, Mudkhera police chowki.

Ashok Agarwal, 65, his wife Manju Agarwal, 60, son Amit, 40, daughter-in-law Seema, 36 and grandson Shobit were burnt alive in their Santro car on the busy National Highway near Mudkhera area in Palwal district on Tuesday afternoon.